Lately have come across reading the bibliographical epic of the 1930s Shanghai starlet Ruan Ling Yu and her story deeply touched me.  Daughter of a widowed servant to a wealthy merchant family, Ruan spent her childhood helping her mother with household servitude tasks.  Despite their meager economic condition, her mother managed to send Ruan to the local parochial school, where Ruan studied English and ballet.  At the tender age of sixteen, under the ardent pursuit of her household master - the youngest of the four heirs in the Zhang household -Ruan fell in love.  Consummate with love, the young couple disregarded the Zhang family disapproval and moved out.  Little did Ruan know that in the years to come Zhang would gamble away not only his interitance but also her hard earned money.  During their six-year-relationship, he never once made a financial contribution to the family. His addiction for alchohol and gambling worses over the years.  Eventually Ruan left Zhang only to fall in love once again under the seduction of a wealthy tea merchant who trifled with her heart.  He subjected her to physical abuse before courting another young starlet.  Ruan’s third lover was a well-known film director who may have loved Ruan but never stood up to publicize their relationship, for he did not feel that Ruan had been well-reputed. In despair, Ruan suicided at the mere age of 25.